Though the current project started as a series of posts charting my grief journey after the death of my mother, I am no longer actively grieving. Now, the blog charts a conversation in living, mainly whatever I want it to be. This is an activity that goes well with the theme of this blog (updated 2018). The Sense of Doubt blog is dedicated to my motto: EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY. I promote questioning everything because just when I think I know something is concrete, I find out that it’s not.

Hey, Mom! The Explanation.

Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.

DC stopped publishing Legion of Superheroes as its own comic in 2012 with issue #13 OF THE new 52.

I miss the Legion of Superheroes.

I miss them so much that I bought a Bugs Bunny and Legion of Superheroes crossover comic (see below) recently simply because it was the first thing DC has published with the Legion of Superheroes in many years.

But the rumor mill has it that the Legion is coming back, and since I have not posted about comic books in some time (since May 19th if we're speaking strictly of comic only content as opposed to something that mentions comics - Hey Mom #682), then it's time to continue this "my oldest" feature with some updates!

Two immediate things come to mind.

One is that I am culling my comic collection.

So, there's this:

So, yeah, I am not a hoarder.

I can get rid of stuff.

Most of these boxes are filled with comics from the last 2-3 years that I do not plan to keep.

Two of the short boxes are full of comics I did not read and realized that I would not read.

The long box was not full, but it did contain the CD set of digital Amazing Spider-Man issues that I finally archived on my hard drive and backed up twice. So that's done.

But there's still this at my Dad's

So, yeah, that's a lot of comics. Plus I still have a few long boxes here at my house.

The only titles I am absolutely NOT getting rid of are The Legion of Superheroes, Teen Titans, and The Fantastic Four. I plan to keep some of the oldest comics from my childhood from many titles. But the rest? Right now, I am not certain that I will keep entire, long-time running comic titles of anything else.

It's funny because those three choices make it seem as if I a bigger DC fan than anything else. But as I was sorting those comics in the picture shared from Facebook (via Instagram), my DC stack was the smallest (just Aquaman and Batman). Marvel was the biggest stack and Image/other was in between. I will take some comics west, but I am trying to reduce the number. Right now, it looks like five small boxes and some yet to be determined. But not much more than that. I have two milk crates full, which is probably another small box. I may not take any long boxes.

For now, the collection is staying at Dad's. And I have collected volumes of those three titles -- The Legion of Superheroes, Teen Titans, and The Fantastic Four -- which are going west for sure.

But maybe not this trip. I may not take those boxes until I future trip.

I am trying to be mindful of not having as much storage space in the new place as I do here.

Anyway, here's the Bugs and Legion comic cover (right).

It was a fun issue, especially with page spreads of the legion characters dealing with their "angst" in humorous sequences, (see below) illustrated by Tom Grummet, whose work I have always enjoyed going back to his days on the Titans comic.

It was a fun comic, and I do not regret buying it. I liked seeing the fun that the artists and writers were having with the Legion.

THE MAIN REASON THAT THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES IS SO ATTRACTIVEis that it fosters a sense of community. This idea of a group of teenagers from various planets, some human, some not, some humanoid, some not (though originally all were humanoid at least), all coming together for a club of kids with powers who all have fun adventures but also get to hang out with like-minded kids with similar issues was a genius idea. The idea clearly appealed to others because the Legion fandom is possibly the single most active fan group in comics.

There's romance and romantic storylines. When the Legion is done well, there's a great mix of high adventure, science fiction, space opera, and soap opera, romantic-based melodrama. The page above captures that spirit. Look at Dream Girl's pose: oh the angst produced by the burden of her powers. Ayla (Light Lass) and Jo Nah (Ultra Boy) are quick to draw appropriate conclusions and ready for action.

So, below I have some more Legion content. First, I am sharing an article from moviepilot.com about the possible return of the Legion at DC Comics yet this year.

Next, there's my own T-shirts content about the Legion, in which I never really shared exactly which issue of mine is the oldest.

Below that, I think I have identified that Superboy #147 is my oldest appearance featuring the Legion of Superheroes.

The Legion Of Super-Heroes Are About To Return In DC Comics's "Rebirth"!

I'm a film-and-TV fan who grew up with a deep love of superhero comics! Follow me on Twitter @TomABacon or on Facebook @tombaconsuperheroes!

Launched last May, DC's "Rebirth" event has proven to be a hit! As the "Rebirth" era nears its one-year anniversary, Geoff Johns is teasing his return, and a Batman / The Flash crossover event looks set to lift the lid on some of DC's greatest mysteries. Meanwhile, a year after the first hint, it looks as though the Legion of Super-Heroes is about to return!

Created by writer Otto Binder in 1958, the Legion of Super-Heroes is a team of heroes based in the 30th & 31st centuries. The initial version of the LSH was inspired by the adventures of Superboy, and they traveled back in time to add him to their number. To Binder's surprise, the LSH proved so popular that they became recurring characters in Adventure Comics, and they eventually took over the feature completely. It wasn't until the 1970s that the Legion began to star in their own official title, though.

The origin of the Legion has been rewritten with pretty much every reboot of the #DC universe, but they've remained the future's premiere superteam. Each member typically has fairly distinct powers, but all wear a flight ring marked with an 'L'.

Over the decades, there have been countless Legionnaires, but the staple members include the telepathic Saturn Girl, the electricity-manipulating Lightning Lad, and the electromagnetic Cosmic Boy. The Silver Age added characters such as Triplicate Girl, Phantom Girl (who turned intangible), the shapeshifting Chameleon Boy, and the genius Brainiac 5.

The Legion's Role in "Rebirth"

The Legion flight ring. [Credit: DC Comics]

Last May, all-star writer #GeoffJohns launched the "Rebirth" era with DC Universe - Rebirth #1. A tremendously successful comic, Rebirth teased a lot of major arcs that would be developed over the next two years, and one of them was a teaser that the Legion of Super-Heroes would soon be returning.

In one brief scene, we were introduced to a mysterious young woman who had been arrested after stealing food. She claimed to be a friend of Superman's, and wasn't particularly shaken at the news that he'd recently died; in fact, when interviewed by Captain Maggie Sawyer, she told her she'd seen the future and everything would turn out fine. Sawyer was understandably impressed, but the GCPD considered having the girl evaluated for psychological help. In one final scene, we saw this mystery character's only possession; a Legion flight ring.

Fans of the Legion were thrilled, not least because they deduced the mystery woman was most likely Saturn Girl — a key member of the Legion. They were right, as we learned after a second teaser in Batman #9. Launching Tom King's phenomenal 'I Am Suicide' arc, Batman #9 saw the Dark Knight recruiting a crack team of Arkham inmates. Significantly, as Batman stalked through the corridors of Arkham Asylum, he passed a cell containing a 'Jane Doe', who breathed on the glass of her cell and inscribed the Legion insignia. It seemed the Legionnaire had been sent to Arkham after psychological evaluation.

Why Saturn Girl?

Geoff Johns has always loved the Legion of Super-Heroes — and he's always had a particular love for Saturn Girl. In his view, three members of the Legion are absolutely fundamental to the history of the DC Universe: Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad. After all, back in Binder's 1958 origin story, these were the guys who taught Superman what it meant to be a hero! He reserved particularly warm words for Saturn Girl:

"Saturn Girl is the heart and soul of the Legion of Super-Heroes. When everybody's saying, "Legion doesn't work anymore. There's too much xenophobia. You can't change people." Saturn Girl says, "Yes, you can." Then suddenly, you realize she can read people's minds. She knows everyone's deepest, darkest secrets. If she has faith, then at the base level, human beings and aliens and everybody can reach that goal, can reach that achievement and have that goodness inside them. I believe her. I'm with her. And that's why Saturn Girl is so important to the Legion. She says, "We can do this." And it's like, well, if she believes it, then I believe it too. She's at the epicenter of truth for the entire universe for me."

So it's hardly a coincidence that Johns added Saturn Girl into the "Rebirth" mix, emphasizing once again the fundamental vitality and positivity of the reborn DC universe.

What's Next?

[Credit: DC Comics]

As with the main "Rebirth" story, DC is playing the long game with the Legion of Super-Heroes. But plans are clearly set in place; at Baltimore Comic Con 2016, they revealed that one of the DC Rebirth panel would soon be writing Legion of Super-Heroes. That’s a choice of Dan DiDio, Tom King, Hope Larson, James Tynion IV, Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens and Yannick Paquette. While I'd highlight Paul Levitz and Tom King — Levitz has been associated with the Legion for decades, while King gave a nod to Saturn Girl in Batman #9 — the truth is that any one of those writers could easily pen the series.

Still, that text box suggests that the Legion plot is heading over to the pages of Supergirl. Solicits to date haven't given any indication of a Legion-centric plot here — or of an encounter with the Emerald Empress, for that matter. So that exciting arc can't happen until April or May at the earliest; my money's on May, the one-year anniversary of "Rebirth", when I'm expecting DC to kick off a second phase. If I'm right about that, then we can expect the Legion of Super-Heroes to get a high-profile relaunch in just a few months' time!

So, I have a "My Oldest" category on this blog with a few entries.

In reprinting T-shirts content in which I wrote at more length about the oldest comic books in my collection, I started parceling out the material in parts. Here's the links to the other two parts.

And it's a club SO BIG that it has a waiting list (the "reserves"): The Legion of Substitute Heroes.

It's the LEGION OF SUPERHEROES.AND membership provides each hero with a ring that lends the wearer the power of flight and a special force field to be able to fly in space while breathing Oxygen magically produced from the tiny gadget while keeping the wearer safe from the vacuum and cold of space by some other magic technology provided by the ring, which, like many uniforms features a cool logo, the team logo of THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES (and, no, this is not technically a run-on sentence).

I want to belong to that club.

I had to buy this seven-figure PVC figurine set when I saw it solicited in Previews, featuring the original three founding members of the Legion in their original costumes (Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Lightning Lad) as well as four of the earliest members in their original costumes. The box mirrors the Legion's original headquarters, The Legion Clubhouse, which was a rocket ship that crashed in Kal-El (Superman's Kryptonian name) Memorial Park where it became a tourist attraction until the Legionnaires discovered that it was a second supply rocket equipped by Jor-El of Krypton and launched to follow the rocket that carried Kal-El to Earth. Later, the clubhouse was nearly destroyed in a battle with the Fatal Five and the Legion relocated its HQ. The old rocket ship was refurbished and served as an HQ for the Legion of Substitute Heroes.

One thing about the Legion of Superheroes that drew the attention of fans is the relationships between the large cast. Many of these relationships were only hinted at in the original Silver Age comics. The Legion developed a huge and rabid fan base. Large, more vocal, and with greater subtext on which to focus than any other fan community, the Legion fandom were so intense and devoted that they alone kept the Legion published when the general comic book readership had abandoned it as a goofy, throwback to the 1950s and 1960s with heroes sporting very silly names that ended in "Boy," "Lad," "Girl," or "Lass."

In fact, the Legion fan community was so devoted that many came to produce Legion comics, starting with Jim Shooter who wrote his first Legion script at the age of fourteen, soon becoming the regular writer on the Legion comic. Longtime fan Paul Levitz may have logged the most issues and the most defining run in Legion history aided by great artists like Mike Grell, Steve Lightle, and Keith Giffen. Starting in 1989, other fans straight out of Legion fandom, Tom and May Bierbaum, took over writing Legion comics and did some work that was inscrutable to most readers and yet much loved by some of the hardcore Legion fans (like me). The Bierbaums were very active in the exclusive APA (Amateur Press Association - see my T-shirt #61: Nightwing for more explanation of what an APA is) Interlac, named after the International Galactic Language of the Legion era, which is 1000 years in the future.

Interlac and The Legion Outpost fan club are the holy grails of comic book fandom.

Legion fans are very fun and interesting people as seen here in a "Cos Play" photo.

Honorable mention: Matter-Eater Lad. I have to give him an honorable mention because the idea for the hero is so ridiculous. He eats anything and everything.

The list of names will not mean much to people who are not comic book fans and have some experience with the characters. For instance, in the image to the left, Dawnstar has the wings, Wildfire is in the extreme foreground at the bottom (you can see his shiny visor), and Timber Wolf is in the lower right corner right below Shadow Lass who is the dark colored woman to Dawnstar's upper left (her left is our right).

COVER GALLERY

ORIGINAL T-SHORTS TEXT: I tried to find the earliest Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes comic I own in an online image but that will have to wait for a future posting as there are more Legion shirts (big surprise). But I did find a few of the earliest covers (#201, 204, 205, and 207). I own plus some others that I like. I hope that this gallery may inspire others to investigate this Legion thing.

The origin of the Legion of Super-Heroes is finally revealed. A young Garth Ranzz boards a ship to Earth to find his brother, Mekt Ranzz. On the same ship is already seated Rokk Krinn, also going to Earth, a native of Braal. Rokk and Garth make each other's acquaintaince and come across Imra Ardeen. While leaving the ship, Imra receives a telepathic message that someone is trying to kill the rich R.J. Brande, who was also on the ship. When she shouts this information out, both Garth and Rokk stop the perpetrators and bring them to justice. R.J. Brande is so grateful that he tells them to come to his office the next day. The three teenagers are then asked by R.J. Brande to join up as superheroes, inspired by the heroes of the past like Superman and Supergirl. The Legion of Super-Heroes is formed and news of their making reaches many planets. Their first new member is Triplicate Girl, who cam to Earth to join them after hearing about their exploits. The next member was Phantom Girl and their roster continued to expand, even admitting their inspirations: Superman and Supergirl.

The Brain Globes of Rambat want to move Earth to their solar system, and hypniotize the Legion of Super Heroes to defeat Superboy, their only obstacle! How do the Legion of Super Pets factor in all this?

NOTE on time: When I post late, I had been posting at 7:10 a.m. because Google is on Pacific Time, and so this is really 10:10 EDT. However, it still shows up on the blog in Pacific time. So, I am going to start posting at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time, intending this to be 10:10 Eastern time. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom. But I am not going back and changing all the 7:10 a.m. times. But I will run this note for a while. Mom, you know that I am posting at 10:10 a.m. often because this is the time of your death.

I am Christopher Tower the gmr

I am Christopher Tower (or Chris), and I am a writer of stuff. I live in Michigan. I play Ultimate, ride a bike, and supposedly educate college persons while myself being educated in college. I am married with two kids, a beagle, a curly lab, and a grouchy black cat. I like sushi. I love all SF, fantasy, comic books, D&D, board games, and Gnosticism. I am a Jungian. I am currently studying computer science at WMU.

EFF

Satchel

SENSE OF DOUBT STATUS AS OF 0705.04 - 16:45

Sense of Doubt is not currently dedicated to any themes or special interest. The subject matter is mine and may range from comic books to ultimate or from Baseball to feminist-centered media criticism. Until I feel I have enough content for multiple blogs, or until I am seized with a desire to create multiple blogs, this is it, and appropriately so. "Sense of Doubt" came about in Bowie’s Berlin period and the dark, ambient collaborations with Brian Eno. Like the Bowie of 1978, I have my own darkness that steals over me and through me, infecting everything. At the risk of sounding far too melodramatically obsessed with my own self-flagellations, this blog dedicates itself to that darkness, that infection. But it’s fun, too. Hey, I can be amusing? Or not. It’s the way of the [w]rench. Neurosis compelling action in insecure double-checking and misunderstanding evasions. It is my way.

More from the original description text that needed editing in 2015: Furthermore, Sense of Doubt is dedicated to the random. The theme is no theme. Just questions, doubt, and uncertainty. Feel the power of not knowing the answer. So dedicated on the last day of July 2006 by the Galactic Monkey Wrench.

The Blog about my job

It's about how my identity was taken from me by the powers that think they be, an identity, a job, I held for ten years. Go there if curious.

the galactic monkey wrench

The Galactic Monkey Wrench

This is the logo of the Galactic Monkey Wrench. I was given the nickname Galactic Monkey Wrench in college by a friend of mine who felt that I threw the monkey wrench into the cosmos at every available opportunity. Later, in discussions with my best friend, who isthe Lord of Chaos (the Loc), he asked for my title and when I told him, without thinking, he blurted out "the gmr!" Since this was random and we appreciate randomness, I became the gmr, even though technically I should be the gmw. But gmw sounds like a car or some industrial manufacturing firm that makes a strange widget of which one has never heard.
This acronym fetish may make no sense to anyone else, but my friend and I are quite driven to provide acronyms for many things. At the very least, it allows us to keep our conversations obscure and often private as no one knows about what we're talking.

Sense of Doubt Rare video

the gmrstudios repository of doubt

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